The ViCTE Newsletter  

Helps professionals keep and improve their English through the Internet since February 2009

Number 24                                                                                   August 2010

 

Editorial

 

Usage of synonyms (i.e. different words with the same meaning) is of special importance in English. „Your writing can sound boring if you permanently keep repeating the same words. In order to make language a lot more expressive and interesting you should try to vary the words you use as often as you can” (Synonym Finder).

Synonyms enrich your vocabulary, make your expression style more emphatic, more catching and conspicuous. Later versions of the Microsoft Word offer a thesaurus with synonyms within writing and editing Word documents. You can find groups of synonyms with description of their meaning in Synonym Finder. Synonyms add flavor to your writing. Use them when writing. 

And learn by heart as many synonyms as you can. Exercise 1 contributes to it. You should find for a word in the left column of the table below the word in the given text with the same significance. It means the word in the text is a synonym to a corresponding word in the left column and vice versa.

Exercise 2 reminds you the importance of articles in English and offers suitable revision. Look again at Countable and Uncountable Nouns Explained for doing this exercise without mistakes. 

Enjoy studying the text and doing the exercises!

 

Game engine

  1. The game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines running on video game consoles and desktop operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The core functions typically provided by a game engine include those afforded by a rendering engine (“renderer”) for 2D or 3D graphics, by a physics engine (collision detection and collision response), furthermore, scripting, animation, artificial intelligence, memory management, scene graph and others.
  2. The term ”game middleware” stand for game engines providing a flexible and reusable software solutions that ensure all needed core functions. Such solutions allow the same game to be run on various platforms including game consoles and personal computers. Only few, if any, changes should be made to the game source code in these cases.
  3. Often, game middleware has a component-based architecture that enables specific systems in the engine to be replaced or extended with more specialised (and often more expensive) components. Some game engines are even designed as a series of loosely connected middleware components that can be selectively combined to create a custom engine.
  4. However extensibility is achieved, it remains a high priority in games engines due to the wide variety of uses for which they are applied. Despite the specificity of the name, game engines are often used for other kinds of interactive applications with real-time graphical requirements. The examples of such applications include marketing demos, architectural visualisations, training simulations, and modelling environments.
  5. Some game engines only provide real-time 3D rendering capabilities The game developer is supposed to implement the rest of game engine functions using e.g. game middleware components. These types of engines are generally referred to as a “graphics engine,” “rendering engine,” or “3D engine” instead of the term “game engine.” This terminology is inconsistently used, however, because many full-featured 3D game engines are referred to simply as “3D engines”, too.

 References: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  http://en.wikipedia

Vocabulary

 

English Russian Czech
3D graphics 3D-графика, трёхмерная графика, объёмная графика trojrozměrná grafika
component-based architecture  компонентная архитектура architektura, struktura
core functions  основная функция základní, stěžejní funkce
extensibility наращиваемость, возможность наращивания, возможность расширения rozšiřitelnost
game developer  разработчик игр(ы) vývojář her
game engine игровой движок jádro počítačové hry
loosely connected нежёстко соединённый volně, nesvázaně, volně spojený
marketing demo демонстрационная   версия маркетинга marketingová demoverze
middleware ПО средней сложности, межплатформенное ПО, ПО  промежуточного слоя middleware
physics engine  физический движок fyzické jádro
platform платформа (архитектура технических или программных средств) program, platforma
rendering рендеринг rendering
rendering engine (renderer)  механизм визуализации, устройство рендеринга, (рендерер) rendering
scene graph граф сцены  
scripting  скриптинг použití skriptů
software программное                 обеспечение (ПО) software
video game компьютерная игра, видеоигра, электронная игра  počítačová hra
     
     

 Exercises

    

 

Exercise 1   Find out in the text above words that are synonymous to the words in the left column of the table below:

Note: Para.No. =  a number of a paragraph

Exercise 2   Put articles if necessary; if no article is necessary, put “x”:

The term ”game middleware” stand for … game engines providing … flexible and reusable software solution that ensures all needed … core functions. Such … solution allows … same game to be run on … various platforms including … game consoles and … personal computers. Only few, if any, changes should be made to …  game source code in these cases. Some game engines are even designed as … series of … loosely connected middleware components that can be selectively combined to create … custom engine. However … extensibility is achieved, it remains … high priority in … games engines due to … wide variety of … uses for which they are applied. Despite … specific name, … game engines are often used for other kinds of … interactive applications with … real-time graphical requirements. The examples of such … applications include … marketing demos, architectural visualizations, training simulations, and modelling environments.

Find keys to the exercises in Keys to Newsletters from Number 19 up to Number 24 (but do the exercises first!)

 

For consolidation of applying articles

do a quiz  Basic English – Count and Non-Count Nouns

Moreover, test your knowledge of articles with the short quiz

Good luck!

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